CAPTAIN'S COVE, VA — Some property owners in a residential community in Accomack County are frustrated by sediment-clogged canals that are reportedly causing navigation issues for boaters.
Patricia Borrelli and her husband built the home on their canal-front property in the Captain's Cove Golf & Yacht Club in 2018. At the time, she said they anticipated paying more for life by the water.
"Our HOA fees were going to be higher because we had to pay for dredging, the maintenance of the waterways," Borrelli said.
They did not expect their additional waterfront fee to increase at the rate it has. Borrelli said they had to pay around $400 this year, double what they paid when they first moved to the community. Even with the higher annual payments, she said many sections of the canals go without dredging.
"There are members that have been here for a good ten, twenty years that have been paying into this fund and they haven't had their canals dredged," Borrelli said.
Tim Hearn, who sits on the Board of Directors, told WBOC that a permitting issue delayed the dredging they planned to do this year.
Hearn said that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not notify them that their dredging permit renewal request was approved until February, a few weeks before the end of dredging season in early March. At that time, they discovered the hydraulic pump needed to dredge in some parts of the canal was broken.
Hearn said the Board decided to dredge only what they could without using the pump rather than disrupt down canal traffic with boating season around the corner.
Paul Margeson, another canal-front property owner, said his concerns go beyond the lack of dredging this year.
The canal-front properties extend into parts of the waterway itself. During a recent meeting of the Board of Directors, the suggestion that homeowners with those properties do their own dredging was discussed.
Margeson said he bought his property and moved into the community with the understanding that Captain's Cove would do the dredging.
"They advertise it as a waterfront community, so they want the benefits of the waterfront but don't want to pay for it." Margeson said. "I think that's part of the main issue.
Hearn said that discussion at the recent Board of Directors meeting also included ending the waterfront assessment and refunding this year's dredging fee, but no motions have been made.